In April 2008, Brittany Zimmerman, a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin student, was stabbed to death by an unidentified man in her off-campus apartment. Now, Zimmerman's chilling 911 tape suggests that the homicide could have been prevented if the 911 dispatcher had only acted sooner.

According to the police report, Zimmerman made a call to 911 immediately after discovering an intruder in her home. The dispatcher who answered the call, however, claimed that she did not “hear any sounds that would signal an emergency,” so the police were not dispatched for another 48 minutes.

By then, her fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, had already found Zimmerman dead in the apartment.

CNN reports:

Although the dispatcher claimed later to have heard nothing, the 911 tape captured screams, gasps and what sounds like a struggle, according to the court documents.

[…] Zimmerman had been stabbed multiple times in her chest, near her heart. She'd also been beaten and strangled, according to warrants released recently.

Forty-eight minutes too late, thanks to the dispatcher’s incompetence. Unbelievable!

Worse yet, Zimmerman’s killer is still on the loose.

Brittany’s family deserves justice. If the murderer cannot be found, the dispatcher should be held accountable.